'Decade of downtown' doesn't need age-old blight

Updated 3:21 pm, Friday, March 14, 2014

There are buildings downtown that will not help the city achieve the “Decade of Downtown” envisioned by the mayor. Some buildings exemplify urban blight.

There are buildings downtown that will not help the city achieve the “Decade of Downtown” envisioned by the mayor. Some buildings exemplify urban blight.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

'Decade of downtown' doesn't need age-old blight

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SAN ANTONIO — It's March in the Alamo City. If Charles Dickens were taking in the downtown sights, he might describe the vibe as summer in the light and winter in the shade.

The social critic wouldn't just be talking about the sweater-in-the-morning, flip-flops-in-the- afternoon weather, either.

What Mayor Julián Castro has described as the Decade of Downtown is beginning to bloom. Those who have taken advantage of the breezy walking weather have surely seen the springtime blush that previews downtown's hope of metropolitan hotness. One such example is the Travis Park makeover that is expected to be unveiled at the end of March.

Then there are those buildings. The ones with forgotten windows, broken and boarded or opaque from neglect. The sketchy ones that just need a little love, the drafty ones that aren't worth their footprint, and those begging for a merciful demolition despite otherwise charming architectural details from eras that predate black-and-white TV. Whether empty for decades or just a few years, they're the ones that make you hold your breath and walk faster as you pass.

They embody cold urban blight.

There are a lot of vacancies downtown, and those buildings are what happens when nobody's home.

And when nobody cares.

Last week, the Express-News' Benjamin Olivo reported in “The Downtown Blog” that the city, desperately wanting to show that it really does care, is looking at a strategy to deal with these vacant buildings. The plan in the works includes reassessing the rules on the upkeep expected on such forgotten digs and how to go about enforcing those standards, as well as efforts to help property owners keep the decrepitude under control. It includes possible changes to building codes; those changes are set to go before the City Council in April or May.

But change can be sticky. We all know that we need codes to keep things civilized, but whenever you change the rules, someone comes up with a good argument as to why the changes shouldn't apply to him. And where fines are concerned, everyone thinks he is an exception. And so on and so on. Above all, changes will create expensive issues for empty, aging structures that were in place before the young Castro brothers were born.

But that doesn't mean changes, mandatory city involvement — and, ultimately, code enforcement — aren't necessary to keep Old San Antonio from holding back New San Antonio. Those are a must.

It's supposed to be the Decade of Downtown, remember? That's Mayor Juliani's plan, anyway — to clean up the area billed as Everyone's Backyard. Even San Antonians who grouse about the downtown focus have a stake in this; revitalization redirects growth to areas where roads, sidewalks and all the pipes and wires necessary for everyday life are already in place.

Urban renewal embodies the spirit of fixing what we have instead of replacing it with a newer, cheaper model.

That's why the feds kick in dollars for urban redevelopment. Downtown needs affordable housing where young people can start their lives a short walk away from work, without the burden of a car payment. And that's where those old buildings, under the right circumstances, can give us another checkmark in the win column.

If we are investing in a bright future, those forgotten spots in the shadows can't be left in the cold.